Tuesday, 17 June 2008

Our Universe is flat

Our Universe is not spherical or saddle shaped but flat- images by NASA

Since a long time I have been interested in having an atlas of the Universe. Today I found some interesting internet resources where one can learn more about the Universe we live in.

Atlas of the UniverseThis website gives different maps of the Universe based on the distance from the Sun in light years, beginning from 12.5 light years to 14 billion light years away from the Sun.

BBC : Interactive Map of the Universe This interactive map can be fun for the kids and grown ups both. It gives you a chance to put the solar system in order and briefs you about a lots of other interesting space related terms.

NASA: Our UniverseIt gives interesting information on the new findings about the shape and fate of the Universe.

Long ago people thought the Earth was flat and the Universe round but now we know it is other way round- the Universe is flat and the Earth is round.

I think these three links will prove very useful for anyone who wants to broaden one's knowledge about the Universe.

4 Comments:

Yes, I enjoyed building a Solar System. Wish there were more such games like building the Constellations and organizing the Milky Way within fifty light years and such games of increasing complexity.Thank you for visiting!Cheers!

However bear in many new scientific discoveries were counter intuitive; stranger than we could have ever imagined.

I guess it does not matter as to whether the universe is flat or curved or a sphere; the possibility of any number of parallel universes in other dimensions which we cannot see makes it all a trifle academic, yet it is still fascinating to think about it all.

Any such observations and calculations are confined and influenced by the Observer; we remain trapped within our Universe unable to view it independently from outside it and even if we were able to do that; its likeky we would be unable to view the parallel universes.

Time itself, in it's entirity is outside our dimension and I think will remain so. In that context the idea of the shape of the universe becomes a meaningless idea, unless you think of it as a fully independant enclosed self supporting system which is not influenced by other dimensions, which I reject. We are all trapped within our human limitations.